Less than three years ago, Mariana Fuertes was an unemployed, divorced mother of three. At the time, Fuertes, who is Argentinian-American, had no health insurance. She went to a local Planned Parenthood in her Long Island, New York neighborhood and was able to obtain a free medical exam, where a lump was detected in her breast. She was able to get a free mammogram at Planned Parenthood through funding from the Susan G. Komen For the Cure foundation, known around the world for its pink ribbons and breast cancer awareness campaigns.

“It was a tough time, I was so scared,” Fuertes recalls. Life is better now for Fuertes, but she credits Planned Parenthood as the only place she could turn to for help. “They were wonderful.” She still attends some Planned Parenthood workshops on everything from child-rearing to women’s health topics.

For the past few years, Susan G. Komen had been granting Planned Parenthood about 700 hundred thousand dollars annually, which has been used to provide about 170 thousand clinical breast exams. Almost a quarter of Planned Parenthood patients are Latina.

So when Fuertes found out that Susan G. Komen decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood, she says “felt very sad. I hate it.” Susan Komen founder Nancy Brinker said the organization decided to stop funding groups which are “under investigation by U.S. authorities.” Planned Parenthood is currently being investigated by Florida Republican congressman Cliff Stearns. He says he wants to make sure that federal funds sent to Planned Parenthood are not used for abortions. In recent years, Planned Parenthood has been the focus of many anti-abortion protests.

Read the full story at NBC Latino